Apparatus for coating filaments and staple fibers



June 1, 1937. w wHlTEHEAD 2,081,967

APPARATUS FOR COATING FILAMENTS AND STAPLE FIBERS Original Filed Oct 27, 1933 SPlNNlNG MACHINE SPINN\NG MACHlNE o A1R w M M Patented June 1, 1937 UNITED STATES APPARATUS FOR COATING FILAMENTS AND- STAPLE FIBERS William Whitehead, Cumberland, Md., assignor to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Original application October 2'7; 1933, Serial No.

695,503. Divided an d this application February 13, 1935, Serial No. 6,404

1 Claim.

This invention relates to apparatus for conveying, treating and forming yarns, especially staple yarns formed from continuous artificially formed filaments.

This application is a division of my application S. No. 695,503 filed October 27, 1933.

An object of the invention is to provide apparatus for treating continuous filaments or staple fibers made therefrom to improve their properties for future textile processing. Other objects of the invention will appear from the following detailed description and drawing.

In the drawing: Fig. l is a side elevation, partly in cross-section, of an apparatus for spraying oil on filaments in connection with an air conveyor' delivering said filaments to a cutter.

Fig. 2 is a plan view, partly in cross-section, of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a nozzle or spraying device that may be used in the apparatus shown in Fig. 1.

Short lengths, say from 1 inch to l0'inches, of fibers cut from continuous filaments are 25 known in the trade as staple fibers. These staple fibers have been cut by hand from continuous filaments, from hanks and reels of yarns, and by automatic machines of various types.

When employing automatic machines, there was 30 generated a static electric charge on the fibers which caused spreading of the filaments and fibers one from the other, the clinging of the filaments and fibers to various parts of the device and other properties which made it very difficult to control and guide the filaments or fibers such that even and uniform staple fibers could be formed. in quantity. In the subsequent treatment of the staple fibers, such as carding, drafting and in spinning said fibers to yarns there arose the same diificulty caused by static electric charges being imparted to the fibers and yarn. To overcome these difiiculties the filaments of continuous lengths were treated, prior to cutting them into staple fibers, with various anti-static finishes which allow the static-charge to leak off.

Many of the best anti-static finishes for the purpose of removing static electricity from the filaments, fibers, cards and yarn left the filaments and fibers with a scroopy hand. Although it is possible to subject fibers in this condition to a carding operation with fair success, such fibersdo not lend themselves to satisfactory drafting, yielding an uneven product.

This invention removes the unevenness in drafting, gives a soft hand and improves carding by lubricating the anti-static finished filaments and fibers without destroying to any detectable extent the anti-static finish or its effective properties. By this invention almost any of the present lubricants used on yarns, not finished with an anti-static coating, may be applied to yarns having such a coating. The evenness of the anti-static coating is undisturbed by the application of the lubricant by the method of this invention. There are no wiping actions according to this invention which will bunch up or remove entirely either the anti-static finish or the lubricant.

It has not been possible prior to this invention to apply lubricants, such as oils, either before or after application of the anti-static finish, because the anti-static finishes are strongly polar and the oils and such lubricants are only very weakly polar, with the result that one will not spread on the other. If attempts are made to apply one by a wick after the other, the first applied contaminates the wick of the second causing large variations in the amount of finishes applied and general irregularity.

Attempts to apply oil to the staple fiber resuits in uneven penetration due to the bundles of staple fibers being of different compactness. By the present invention the oil or such lubricants are evenly distributed and all the staple fibers are of even soft hand.

According to my invention I treat yarn of substantially continuous filaments, during any winding operation but preferably at the spinning cabinet, with an anti-static finish, then, prior to cutting, the yarn is evenly sprayed with a lubricant in a finely divided state, i. e. atomized lubricant. The staple fiber cut from such lubricated filaments have the lubricant thereon in the form of minute globules on the surface of the anti-static finished yarn and this reduces the scroopy hand and at the same time does not reduce the anti-static properties of the fibers.

This invention is applicable to yarns and filaments that are of substantially continuous lengths such as those yarns formed of artificial filaments that have been extruded through orifices of suitable size from spinning solutions of derivatives of cellulose. These filaments may be formed by any of the wet or dry methods of spinning. The filaments may be formed of regenerated cellulose, inorganic derivatives of cellulose or organic derivatives of cellulose. Filaments of organic derivatives of cellulose, such as lend themselves to the process of this invention.

most part, are nonconductors of electricity and.

they, therefore, tend to retain static charges of electricity. Examples of organic esters of cellulose are cellulose acetate, cellulose formate, cellulose propionate and cellulose butyrate, while examples of organic ethers of cellulose are ethyl cellulose, methyl cellulose and benzyl cellulose.

The filaments, if of organic derivatives of cellulose, may contain eifect materials such as pigments, filling materials, dyes or lakes, fire retardants, plasticizers, sizes and lubricants. Examples of pigments and filling materials are powdered metal such as tin and aluminum, metal oxides such as the oxides of tin, lead, aluminum, zinc, etc. and organic materials such as tricresyl phosphate salts of resin acids, etc. The filaments may also have been formed by spinning from solutions containing precipitants, such as water, kerosene, gasoline, xylene, etc., which give to the filaments the properties of being easily delustered and a resistance to taking on a lustre, both properties being often desirable in staple fibers.

By the term yarns is meant bundles of filaments, straws or foils which may be in parallel relationship or twisted together. This invention is not only applicable to yarns for formingstaple fibers and the staple fibers, but also to yarns made of continuous filaments which are to be subsequently processed, as in wire wrapping, etc., in which case there have been high amounts of static charges imparted to the yarn. This invention is also applicable to spun yarns from natural or artificial staple fibers.

The yarns may be coated or finished with any suitable anti-static finish which, in forming staple fibers, is usually placed upon the yarn as it leaves the spinning cabinet. The anti-static material may be applied to the yarn by means of wicks, wick covered rollers, grooved or plain rollers or discs dipping into a solution of the anti-static material and then contacting with the yarn as it passes to the cutting knives or to a winding device. The anti-static material may be supplied, according to its composition, from its solution in organic or inorganic solvents, or from a molten bath of the material.

The anti-static finishes that lend themselves to the process of this invention are, for example, 100/30/10 diethylene glycol/water/magnesium chloride, 100/30/6 or '7 diethylene glycol/water/ magnesium chloride, triethanolamine oleate, triethanolamine stearate with a trace of free triethanolamine, glycol and glycerol oleates and stearates with a trace offree triethanolamine, or like materials. These anti-static materials may be applied in amounts of from 2 to 10% as coating to the filaments.

The yarns finished with such anti-static finishes pare, according to this invention, sprayed with a lubricant in a finely divided state. This lubricant is atomized and forced by air currents into, around and about the yarn such that each filament upon examination shows the lubricant to be present thereon in the form of minute globules evenly distributed on the surface of the antistatic finish thereon. In forming staple fibers this is preferably done in connection with an air conveyor delivering the yarn to the cutter blades.

The lubricants that lend themselves to the process of this invention are, for example, light mineral oil of about 75 viscosity, light mineral oil plus 10% of sulphonated naphthene, olive oil,

7 2,081,967 the esters and ethers of cellulose, in particular ethyl oxy butyrate, diethylene glycol, glycols, glycerol, formals such as formal glycerol or the formal of the mono methyl ether of ethylene glycol, or mixtures of two These lubricants are so applied that from 0.2 to 2% or lubricant remains on the filaments. The line particles of lubricant remain on the fibers through future processing such as carding, combing and drafting even to the twisted yarn, preventing all jerking, uneven tensions and other annoyances caused by unlubricated yarn.

or more of these materials.

In place of an oil lubricant, other materials I may be used. Thus, the lubricant may itself contain a substance of high electrical conductivity and act as an anti-static finish as well asa lubricant. For example, the fatty acids are ionized when dissolved in oils or organic solvents and their solutions in such solvents may be employed to produce oily, lubricative anti-static finishes on yarns. Further, lubricative anti-static finishes may be sprayed upon the yarn by emulsifying a mixture of oil, water and such substances of high electric conductivity as triethanolamine lactate, tartrate, citrate\ borate, etc., also similar salts of ethylene diamine and similar amines. Further, lubricative bodies may be produced by dissolving alkylolamine salts of the fatty acids, such as oleic acid, in glycols or other polyhydric alcohols, which izer, the amountof'anti-static material originally fed to the yarn as a coating may be greatly reduced or it may be eliminated-entirely. Also, the yarn may be coated by'means of a wick, roller or other furnishing device with an oily material and later sprayed with an atomized anti-static material in solution or as an emulsion without disturbing the original oil coating.

There is disclosed in the drawing apparatus adapted to apply to filaments finely divided particles of a lubricant. In the drawing like numbers refer to like parts in the various figures.

As shown on the drawing, the yarn that is to be cut to staple fibers is generally indicated at ll.

. For simplicity, only one strand of yarn or thread is shown. However, in actual operation, a plurality of yarns or threads may be treated simul-' taneously. For example, all the yarns from a whole series of spinning cabinets may be collected together by means of a guide either prior to or subsequent to being coated with an anti-static material. The yarn II is drawn from a dry spinning cabinet I! by means of a friction roll II, it is then passed under a guide roll II and over a felted roll [6. The felted roll [6 consists of a metal or wood roll I! suitably fastened on a shaft l8, the metal roll being covered with an absorbent felt-like material IS. The roll I6 is positively driven preferably at a slower peripheral speed than the movement of the yarn so that it has a wiping action on the yarn, tl'ius applying an even coat of material, contained in the felt pad, on the yarn.

The roll I6 is adapted to dip in a liquid 2| contained in a trough 22 which may be heated by steam, electric resistance or open flame as is indicated at 23. The roll I6 is adapted to be raised or lowered to follow the depth of the liquid, or the roll may be lowered or raised in the liquid for the purpose of controlling the amount of material fed to the yarn.

The yarn II is drawn from the roll l6 to the cutting knives 4| by means of the air conveyor disclosed in Fig. 3. The air conveyor draws the yarn through a conduit 24 by means of a forced draft of air supplied to the conduit by means of the air line 26. The air conveyor delivers the yarn to an adjustable table 21 with which knives 41 on a rotating cutting wheel 42 are adapted to contact, thus cutting the yarn into uniform lengths depending upon the rate at which it is fed to the cutting wheel. The cutting wheel is suitably mounted upon a shaft 43 which is positively driven. The cutting knives are lo-' cated in an enclosed casing 44 having baflles 45 and receiving boxes 46 therein. For the purpose of further aiding in the conveying and for the removal of the cut fibers there may be applied an auxiliary air blast on the interior of the cabinet such 'as by pipes 41 and header 48.

For the purpose of treating the yarn with finely divided lubricants, there is inserted in the air line 26 a lubricant line 28 having its nozzle preferably close to the air blast nozzle of air line 26. Inserted in the lubricant supply line 28 is an atomizer 29 to break the lubricant into small particles. The lubricant is further atomized as it is forced into the conveyor conduit 24 in the presence of the air under pressure in line 28. The lubricant is stored in a suitable container 3! under pressure. The lubricant line is controlled by valves 32 and 33 for regulating the flow of lubricant to the atomizer and to the conveyor. In practice the air in air line 28 is maintained at about lbs. pressure, and the pressure in the lubricant line 28 is maintained at a pressure of about 40 lbs. It is desirable to have an oil fiow regulator in the oil line 28 such as a gear pump or other similar device 5|.

By this device the yarn isconv'eyed to the cutters while at the same time it is thoroughly and evenly coated with a lubricant. The air and atomized lubricant spreads the filaments of the yarn slightly and penetrates the yarns throughout, thus placing the lubricant on each individual filament in substantially even amount.

a package and twisting on a twisting device, and

wound up into another package.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description and drawing are merely given by way of illustration and many alterations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of this invention.

Having described my invention, to secure by Letters Patent is:

'In a device for the production of staple fibers of improved properties from substantially continuous yarns or filaments, the combination with a suitable source of supply for said yarns or filaments, of a machine for cutting said yarns or filaments into relatively short lengths, means comprising a fluid under pressure for feeding said yarns or filaments to said cutting machine, means at one point for applying an anti-static dressing to said yarns or filaments during their travel from said source of supply to said cutting machine, lubricant applying means at a later point spaced from said anti-static dressing applying means, said lubricant applying means including a line for supplying lubricant of different polarity than the anti-static dressing, means in said line for atomizing said lubricant and means cooperating with said fluid under pressure for spraying said atomized lubricant onto said yarns or filaments.

what I desire WILLIAM WHITEHEAD. 

